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I Gotta Be Me!

Another update from the Jungle….

Annie is desperate for a job after being kicked to the curb by her last two employers. One employer cut staff when sales plummeted off a cliff; the other went straight in to bankruptcy. Working a cash register in a big box store is a high risk job these days.

Annie doesn’t care about her dream job. She just wants to pay her bills while she decides how old she’ll be before she can afford to retire. With dimming hopes of a better life, she applies for every job opening she can find.

Finally, she is offered a job at a sporting goods store. The company’s C-suite wants to sell more sporting equipment and clothes to women. The company’s HR director hopes that a diverse staff in the local stores will help meet the corporate goal of expanding the customer base. Annie doesn’t know that she’s an experimental lab rat let loose in the maze to test new management objectives. She’s just happy to be employed.

In her first week on the job, Annie learns more about sports and sporting goods than she ever wanted to know. She thinks some of the camping equipment is pretty cool but would never camp out in the woods with all the germs, vermin, and lack of Wi-Fi service. Her male co-workers consider her an urban blight on their outdoorsy message to become one with nature. Even the other female employee thinks Annie is a sissy for not understanding that sweating is fun.

Annie wears leggings with flowing caftans and handcrafted jewelry. Her co-workers wear Dockers and golf shirts with the company’s logo. She wears shoes made of eco-friendly fibers; her co-workers wear hiking boots.

After a month on the job, Annie gradually realizes that she’s not fitting in with her co-workers. She’s the fastest cashier in the store, but who cares when she doesn’t know a fly-fishing rod from a regular rod.

What are Annie’s options?

She can continue being the oddball on the job, feeling increasingly uncomfortable and isolated.

She can try fitting in by taking up big game hunting and picking her teeth with a Bowie knife.

She can be herself but begin looking for a job that matches her personal values.

The above scenario illustrates the mismatch that can occur between employees and employers. With the Great Recession behind us, employees may find it easier to work for companies that match their values. Meanwhile, employers may want to review the connection between their corporate goals and their corporate values.

If your company is struggling with HR issues, Corporate Compliance Risk Advisor can help you create HR policies that are appropriate for your company’s size and then serve as a resource to your staff as the policies are implemented.